[1] Planes of Fame Air Museum was founded by Edward T. Maloney on January 12, 1957, in Claremont, California, to save historically important aircraft.

[3] This airport was formerly the home of Cal-Aero Academy, an Army Air Corps facility that trained more than 10,000 pilots before the end of World War II.

[6] Designed to resemble the hangar deck of a World War II aircraft carrier, it contains a number of items from the USS Enterprise (CV-6) donated by members of her crew and flight squadrons.

The Chino facility was further expanded in 2004–08, adding two new hangars, new offices, a gift shop, library, and the Hands-On Aviation youth education center.

Legally known as The 475th Fighter Group Historical Foundation, Inc., the museum was housed in a 1,250-square-foot (116 m2) modern steel building reminiscent of a World War II military hangar.

This collection includes the only authentic airworthy example of the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter in the world,[13] with its original Sakae engine and an Aichi D3A featured in the movie Tora!

Many other rare aircraft are maintained in flyable condition,[2] such as a North American P-51A Mustang, a Boeing P-26A Peashooter, a Lockheed P-38J Lightning, and a Republic P-47G Thunderbolt.

As of May 2021[update] the complete collection consists of:[16] The museum was previously home to the world's only surviving Northrop N-9M flying wing, which was destroyed in a crash on April 22, 2019.

[20] In 2022, the museum began a new event with the gathering of military vehicles and historical reenactors named "Wheels, Tracks, and Wings" held on June 18.

For 2024, the event was renamed "Wings, Tracks, and Wheels" to be held on May 4-5 with over ten warbird aircraft expected to fly, special presentations, historical reenactors, military vehicles, and concluding with a M4A1 Sherman Tank demonstration.